Álex Bergantiños

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Bergantiños and the second or maternal family name is García.

Álex Bergantiños
Bergantiños with Deportivo in 2022
Personal information
Full name Alejandro Bergantiños García
Date of birth (1985-06-07) 7 June 1985 (age 39)
Place of birth A Coruña, Spain
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Youth career
1993–2002 Imperátor OAR
2002–2004 Deportivo La Coruña
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2008 Deportivo B 97 (10)
2008–2023 Deportivo La Coruña 318 (9)
2008–2010 → Xerez (loan) 57 (0)
2010–2011 → Granada (loan) 6 (0)
2011 → Gimnàstic (loan) 22 (1)
2017–2018 → Sporting Gijón (loan) 36 (1)
Total 536 (21)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alejandro "Álex" Bergantiños García (born 7 June 1985) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

He spent his entire career contracted to Deportivo, making 336 official appearances and being loaned to several other teams. He played 118 La Liga games for Deportivo and Xerez and 247 in the Segunda División for those two, Granada, Gimnàstic and Sporting de Gijón.

Career

Bergantiños was born in A Coruña. He had his first professional spell as a footballer in 2008, at already 23: loaned by local club Deportivo de La Coruña, he was an essential midfield figure as Xerez CD achieved a first-ever top flight promotion – 31 games, 21 starts and 2,085 minutes played.[1]

In very late August 2009, after tying him to the club for four more years, Depor agreed to loan Bergantiños once again to the Andalusians, in another season-long move.[2] He made his La Liga debut on 30 August, playing the last 30 minutes in a 2–0 away loss against RCD Mallorca,[3] and produced roughly the same numbers than in the previous year as the Andalusians were immediately relegated.[4][1]

Bergantiños moved on loan to Granada CF for the 2010–11 campaign.[5] He left in January 2011 to begin yet another loan, at Segunda División rivals Gimnàstic de Tarragona.[6]

Bergantiños returned to Galicia in 2011–12, and soon became a regular, appearing in all the league games and helping his team achieve promotion back to the top flight.[7] He scored his first goal in the competition on 20 October 2012, but in a 5–4 home defeat to FC Barcelona.[8] Weeks later, he extended his contract until 2016, with a buyout clause of €10 million.[9]

In September 2015, Bergantiños signed a new deal lasting until 2018.[10] On 12 December that year, against Barcelona again but at the Camp Nou, he helped the visitors come from behind 2–0 to draw it 2–2 by netting in the 85th minute.[11]

On 2 March 2017, in his first league game of the season, Bergantiños had an accidental collision with Fernando Torres, from which the Atlético Madrid striker suffered cranial injuries; he visited the opponent in hospital shortly afterwards.[12] Ten days later, he scored the winner in a 2–1 victory over reigning champions Barcelona at the Estadio Riazor.[13]

On 11 July 2017, shortly after committing himself to another year at Deportivo,[14] Bergantiños was loaned to Sporting de Gijón for one year.[15] Upon returning home, he became the captain.[16]

Bergantiños remained at Deportivo following their historic relegation to Segunda División B in 2020. The 35-year-old skipper signed a new deal on 5 October that year, to last until 2022.[17]

Bergantiños retired in summer 2023.[18]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[19][20]
Club Season League National cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Deportivo La Coruña 2004–05 La Liga 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
2006–07 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
2011–12 Segunda División 42 3 1 0 — 43 3
2012–13 La Liga 29 1 0 0 — 29 1
2013–14 Segunda División 37 0 1 0 — 38 0
2014–15 La Liga 33 0 1 0 — 34 0
2015–16 22 2 2 0 — 24 2
2016–17 8 1 1 0 — 9 1
2018–19 Segunda División 35 1 0 0 3[a] 1 38 2
2019–20 38 1 1 0 — 39 1
2020–21 Segunda División B 21 0 2 0 — 23 0
2021–22 Primera Federación 33 0 1 0 — 34 0
2022–23 20 0 1 0 — 21 0
Total 318 9 11 0 3 1 332 10
Xerez (loan) 2008–09 Segunda División 31 0 1 0 — 32 0
2009–10 La Liga 26 0 2 0 — 28 0
Total 57 0 3 0 0 0 60 0
Granada (loan) 2010–11 Segunda División 6 0 1 0 — 7 0
Gimnàstic (loan) 2010–11 Segunda División 22 1 0 0 — 22 1
Sporting Gijón (loan) 2017–18 Segunda División 36 1 2 0 2[a] 0 40 1
Career total 439 11 17 0 5 1 461 12
  1. ^ a b Appearance(s) in Promotion Playoffs

Honours

Xerez

Deportivo

References

  1. ^ a b c "Alex Bergantiños, quinta cesión" [Alex Bergantiños, fifth loan] (in Spanish). Granada en Juego. 14 July 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  2. ^ "Deportivo y Xerez cierran por escrito la cesión de Álex Bergantiños" [Deportivo and Xerez agree to loan of Álex Bergantiños in writing]. As (in Spanish). 27 August 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  3. ^ Olmedo, Álvaro (30 August 2009). "El Mallorca bautiza al Xerez en Primera" [Mallorca baptise Xerez in Primera]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  4. ^ Regueiro, Zeltia (15 May 2012). "Álex Bergantiños García "El ascenso va a estar más caro que nunca y hay que apretar"" [Álex Bergantiños García "Promotion is going to be more up for grabs than ever so you have to fire on all cylinders"]. La Opinión A Coruña (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  5. ^ "Álex Bergantiños se va cedido al Granada" [Álex Bergantiños goes on loan to Granada]. Marca (in Spanish). 14 July 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  6. ^ "Gimnàstic: llega Álex Bergantiños" [Gimnàstic: Álex Bergantiños arrives] (in Spanish). esFutbol. 11 January 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
  7. ^ a b Torrente, Pepe (15 June 2012). "Álex Bergantiños confía en sus posibilidades" [Álex Bergantiños trusts in his possibilities]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  8. ^ Egea, Pablo (20 October 2012). "El partido padre" [The mother of all matches]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  9. ^ "Álex Bergantiños: "El club me valoró lo suficiente y estoy contento por renovar"" [Álex Bergantiños: "The club valued me enough and I am happy to renew"]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 7 November 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  10. ^ "El Deportivo amplía los contratos de Laure y Álex Bergantiños" [Deportivo extend the contracts of Laure and Álex Bergantiños]. Marca (in Spanish). 4 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Barcelona held by Deportivo La Coruna as Lucas fires comeback". ESPN FC. 12 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  12. ^ De la Cruz, Luis (3 March 2017). "Bergantiños visitó a Fernando Torres en el hospital" [Bergantiños visited Fernando Torres in hospital]. As (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  13. ^ "Deportivo La Coruña's Alex Bergantinos brings Barcelona back to earth". The Guardian. 12 March 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  14. ^ "El Deportivo amplía el contrato de Álex Bergantiños y le cede al Sporting" [Deportivo extend Álex Bergantiños' contract and loan him to Sporting]. El Correo Gallego (in Spanish). 11 July 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  15. ^ "Bergantiños llega cedido por el Dépor" [Bergantiños arrives on loan from Dépor] (in Spanish). Sporting Gijón. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  16. ^ De la Cruz, Luis (9 July 2018). "Bergantiños: "Hay que recuperar la unión y eliminar crispación"" [Bergantiños: "We have to recover our togetherness and eliminate tension"]. As (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  17. ^ Lema, Jorge (5 October 2020). "El Deportivo amplía el contrato del capitán Álex Bergantiños" [Deportivo extend the contract of captain Álex Bergantiños]. As (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  18. ^ Lema, Jorge (26 June 2023). "Álex Bergantiños se retira y se unirá al organigrama del Depor" [Álex Bergantiños retires and will join Depor's organisational chart]. As (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  19. ^ Álex Bergantiños at BDFutbol
  20. ^ Álex Bergantiños at Soccerway